Jeff Birchfield

With the winter sports season coming to an end, there’s another major coaching change at David Crockett.
It was announced that Richard Tarlton resigned as boys’ head basketball coach on Monday. It came just four months after Kent Green resigned as Crockett’s football coach.
Tarlton, who compiled a 55-65 record as head coach over four seasons, said a number of factors played into his decision. They included a desire to spend more time watching his kids play sports, and a full schedule outside of teaching and coaching.
In addition to his school duties, he owns a pair of businesses and raises cattle in the South Central community
“I’m really busy, plus I have my son Sam playing baseball at Milligan and my daughter Maddie who is a freshman at Crockett playing softball and girls’ basketball,” Tarlton said. “All of that played into it. There are some other things, just a combination of things which led me into thinking I needed to be doing something else.”
Even before the school year started, Tarlton informed school administration that he wouldn’t be back as an assisant baseball coach. .
“I had already opted out of baseball,” he said. “My daughter, like I said, is a sofballer and I kind of neglected her where I was tied up so much with coaching. I made her a promise when she got to the high-school level that I would be there.”
Tarlton, 49, admitted this past basketball season took a toll on him. Fielding a young team, the Pioneers team finished with a 9-20 record. Prior to that, he had a 46-45 record over three years, highlighted by championships in the New Peoples Bank Tournament at Sullivan North and the Hardee’s Classic.
“We’ve had some good times,” Tarlton said. “We’ve had some decent teams, won a couple of different tournaments, during my time there. We have some good times to remember.”
Winning the tournament which David Crockett hosted, and beating rival Daniel Boone in a 71-67 overtime game for the championship are memories which Tarlton cherishes.
“When you are hosting the tournament, which I feel is one of the best tournaments in the area, and you can win be fortunate to win one of those as the head coach, it’s a very exciting time for you,” Tarlton said. “You have a lot of responsibilities with the tournament, but you want it to go well.”
David Crockett Athletic Director Josh Kite said the Pioneers soon will start the process to hire a new coach. He commended Tarlton for his work with the program.
“I appreciate everything Richard has done for our basketball program,” Kite said. “When you’re coaching along with a teaching spot, it’s often a 12-hour day. Now, he can spend a little more time watching his kids play. But, we really appreciate everything he gave us, and wish him nothing but the best.”
Kids whom Tarlton coached included 7-foot center Zach Garland, Joe Ganger, now a baseball player at Tennessee Tech and his own son, Sam who was named Applachian Athletic Conference Baseball Player of the week on Monday.
Tarlton didn’t rule out a return to the coaching ranks sometime in the future.
“I won’t say that I won’t get back into basketball or baseball at some point,” he said. “There are some circumstances where I felt like it was a good time to get away from it. I’ve got a lot of things going, and just felt like at this point of my life, it’s just something I needed to do.”